The Inheritance of Loss
by fallen cough-drop
Summary: A new assassin is on the loose, and he's only targeting former slaves from the Tower of Heaven. Erza Scarlet must band together old friends and new allies to meet a powerful evil rooted in her dark past, all the while dealing with her dangerous attraction to Jellal Fernandes. Slow Build. Jerza (Chapter 2 Up)
1. Chapter 1: ghost stories

**Chapter 1: ghost stories**

**Summary:** In which a promise is made and a promise is broken.

**Disclaimer: Fairy Tail is owned by Hiro Mashima. **

**A/N: **The story takes place in a partial AU in which the events of the Tartaros arc did not take place, and Jellal Fernandes, along with the rest of Crime Sorciere, have been officially pardoned.

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><p>"<em>And I will show you something different from either<em>

_Your shadow at morning striding behind you_

_Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;_

_I will show you fear in a handful of dust."_

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><p>Erza Scarlet is a colossus.<p>

She strides, impenetrable, into the guild each morning, and strides out impassive into the night at the end of each day. Nothing touches her, nothing moves her, and the whispers surrounding her legend only heighten the sense of mystification that surrounds her lithe form.

Erza Scarlet is a symbol.

A symbol of strength, power, unity and hope, standing tall and unbowed on her throne. In the heat of battle, her guildmates say, with the screams of the dying ringing in everyone's ears and the cursed red heat and fire of killing smoking the air, the Titania is a rallying point, the eye of the storm.

How would you capture a motif, note down the importance of the Titania in a handful of words? Erza Scarlet is impressive, powerful, admired respected, adored and idolized. But as she rolls into her cold, quiet bed at night, there could be only one truth left to describe her.

Erza Scarlet is alone.

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><p>A thin hyacinth trembled in the breeze, delicate blue-purple blooms peering up cautiously in the harsh April breeze. Above, below and all around stretched a ragged uneven plain, brown furrowed land sprouting pale lilacs touched with the dying hands of snow. An apocalyptic, bleak wasteland- there could be only one possible phrase to describe it. It rose, unbidden, in her head.<p>

_I'm out on the dead land._

Erza looked around, her eyes coolly assessing her surroundings, looking for some identification, or better yet, a weapon to use. She reached for her magic, pulling with every nerve in her body for the weighted tug and familiar pink-red sparks. Instead, she found silence and a numb, cold void.

_I have no magic. _Erza forced herself to remain calm. She had experience with magic-nullifying bindings before, and she was skilled enough in hand to hand combat to be able to defend herself. Still, the absence of her magic, now worn by use and well a part of her being, was chilling in its loss.

_Erza. _A voice caressed her ears, tiptoeing around her feet, mocking and yet irredeemably sad. _Erza. _It pronounced her name with the finality of a eulogy, it forced her to her knees.

The breeze picked up to a howling wind, ripping lilacs from their roots and pushing them across the churning air. One draped itself over her eyes like pale fingers, curling over her face, with the hint of apology. _The last time anyone touched her like that, thumbs brushing her cheeks she was on a beach with the grainy sand cushioning her back and Jellal hovering above her. His eyes were sorry and bitter and strangely hopeful, and for that moment, just that moment, she closed her eyes and drowned her thoughts and let herself feel-_

Erza broke off that line of thought with a definite snap, swallowing down a dark, tangled ball of emotions that she wouldn't, that she couldn't face yet. She reprimanded herself: it wasn't like her to lose track of action in the middle of a battle.

Though this couldn't really be considered a battle, she thought. The wind bit her skin with icy purpose, but it didn't seem threatening, just preoccupied. It pulled at the ends of her hair, lifting up delicate strands for her to see.

"Erza", a voice, the voice, chanted around her head. "Erza, you've got to listen, you can't trust me. Promise me you won't trust me."

"I won't trust you." Her voice sounded raw and quiet in the chill. "I don't even know you."

"Good," and if the voice sounded pensive, even a little amused, what of it? Erza wanted to leave. "Good," it whispered again. "When you wake up, someone will be dead."

"What?" Erza's skin tingled.

"Good," and the Dead Land faded into the night.

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><p>Ezra woke up with a strangled gasp, her fingers clawing at the bed sheets, scarlet hair pooling down her shoulders and around her waist like blood.<p>

"It was a dream." Her voice, barely above a murmur, was meant to comfort as much as it was to reaffirm. "Just a dream."

She swung her legs over the sides of her bed and stood, feeling the cold of the marble floor leech away the warmth of her feet. This was her room, and her bed, but with the arch, silvery moonlight pooling through the gaps in the curtains, it felt as strange as the Dead Land, where she had made a promise to a stranger.

Erza quickly slipped out of her nightclothes and pulled on a shirt, buttoning it up halfway before giving up and letting her magic do it for her. _Her_ magic, was comforting like meeting a new friend of stepping into warm sunlight. It was back, as real and dependable as ever. She sighed in small relief. Erza felt her hair weighted, heavy, and hanging with secret down her shoulders and skimming the small of her back, and with a shudder she scooped it all into her hands and tied it up loosely.

It was before dawn when Erza walked out of Fairy Hills, and the air felt crisp and full of promise. Magnolia was beautiful in the pre-sun silence, mystic and almost ethereal, a far cry from its bustle and noise during the gold drenched day. The cobblestones beneath Erza's feet steadied her as she walked, as much a familiar presence as her magic. _Home, _everything whispers softly to her, _you're home. _Returning to the city which she had lived in since she was a tiny, barely- nine slave girl was perhaps more peaceful than anything Erza had ever known, except perhaps spending a quiet afternoon in her room, polishing her armor.

Fairy Tail was quiet in the morning as well, imbued with a dignity that would be hard pressed to find in a few hours, when the guild hall was filled with her rambunctious, yelling, cheering guildmates. Erza smiled slightly: even though they were spectacularly exasperating at times, they were her family, and they were a good one.

This early, Erza thought, the guild might even be empty. Or perhaps Mirajane was standing at the bar counter as usual, polishing glasses and wrapping her poisonous magic under yet another layer of sweet, crystal smiles. _'Oh, Erza! You're early today!'_ she would say.

Erza had hated Mirajane, she remembered, hated her with a sour, burning intensity. But underneath all that hate and contempt was regret, and maybe even an embarrassing fear that someone understood, someone else understood, how it felt to be betrayed by someone they loved.

There was no point dwelling in the past, though. Erza pushed open the door to her guild expecting silence and maybe a new job. Instead, she got a roomful of serious faces and news of a murder.

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><p>"The victim was around 40 years old. Divorced, two children. The local Rune Corps say they found her at around 3 A.M. in the morning, in her regular residence located in Petunia. Her throat had been slit from ear to ear. There was some bruising underneath her left eye, indicating that a struggle may have taken place prior to her murder." Master Makarov paused, clearing his throat. "Judging by the temperature of the body, the estimated time of death is around 2:30 A.M."<p>

"Murdered at home with her children sleeping in the next room." Lucy shuddered delicately, no doubt thinking about her own empty house. "Who would do something like this?"

"More importantly," Natsu stretched luxuriantly, eyes dark with sleep, "why should we be bothered? Regular murders are handled by the Rune Corps. We're a wizarding guild."

Lucy glared at the dragonslayer, but Gray nodded his head pensively. "Flame Brain's right, you know?" Realizing the guild's shock because he just _agreed with Natsu, _Gray flushed and took off his shirt. Feeling comforted, he continued. "I mean, it's not really our specialty, is it?"

Makarov smiled without humor. "While that's true, the client organization has put in a specific request for our guild." Raising his hand to still Natsu's further protests, the guildmaster looked down again at his thin folder of notes. "This case shares the same features with two others, one of which occurred two weeks ago, and the other half a year ago. The first was the killing of a 60 year old shopkeeper in Lilac, and the second was the murder of a 20 year old teacher in Sunflower. All three were killed in the same method: their throats were slit."

Natsu looked confused. "So what?"

Makarov sighed. "There is one other connecting feature between the three." He looked up, straight at Erza. "The organization that contacted us was the PTSD Aid Association: Bonded Labor Division. The three victims were slaves in the Tower of Heaven."

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><p>She was drowning.<p>

All around her, Erza's guildmates were murmuring to her or each other, shooting sympathetic glances. But Erza didn't notice any of it. There was a strange, muted buzz in her ears and a prickly heat in her throat.

_After all the years I put into putting the Tower behind me, it just has to come back again and again. _For one irrational instant, Erza felt like screaming. _What have I done to deserve it? What have I done? _

Her knees were shaking, but when Erza spoke, her voice was calm and steady. "I see. But why Fairy Tail?"

Makarov looked sorry, perhaps for springing a shock like that on her then standing back to watch her shatter. Erza shifted her chin imperceptibly. _I don't want your sympathy._

"After your fight with Miss Mizakuchi in the Grand Magic Games, the general public became aware of your previous… origins. The fight was televised," he added, somewhat lamely. "The PTSD Aid Association feels that being a former slave and a powerful mage, you would be able to provide sensitive protection- that is to say, defend the members of the association in Gardenia while remaining aware of their wants, needs and fears." Makarov paused again and looked at her, but this time there was no sympathy in his eyes: only level determination. "Keep in mind that though the Association has requested for you personally, this request is, like all others, optional."

Erza swallowed thickly. She was, she was what? Ungrateful? Shocked? Scared? Ashamed? Ever since setting foot in Fairy Tail, Erza had done her best to forget the Tower. Even when, after her fight with Kagura, letters began pouring in from fellow slaves, questioning, pleading, curious letters. Erza gathered them by the bundle and hid them under her mattress, where she hoped they would never see the light of day again. It wasn't as if she was disgusted, Erza knew she had no right to be, but some small part of her was petrified that there were other people who knew the things she knew.

From the very start, Erza had isolated and downsized her grief, burying it deep away in the crevices of her armor. When Master Makarov had offered counselling with a fatherly pat on the back, she had refused politely but firmly. Erza thought, or rather hoped, that if she ignored the Tower for long enough, it would disappear from her life, taking all her heartbreak with it. But it didn't leave, it crept around her dreams at night, ghosted in her ears each day, and laughed as she walked _'you can never forget me, you can never deny me, I am a part of you.' _

Erza was a sinner, she knew this. This job wasn't just a chance to save lives, it was also a chance to repent in a small way, to come to terms with her terrified apathy.

"I'll take the job." Her voice rang clearly in the silent room. "Um…" Erza looked questioningly at Natsu, Gray and Lucy. "Do you want to…"

There was a moment of frightening silence. Then Natsu smiled toothily. "Of course we're coming! D'you think we'd let you go off on an adventure without us?" Behind him, Lucy smiled reassuringly.

Makarov cleared his throat. "Just one more thing." The guild groaned loudly. Erza glared threateningly, and the groaning stopped dead. "The Association would appreciate more mages of Erza's origins to be present…"

Erza loved Master Makrov, she really did. The man was the closest thing she had to a father. But seeing the normally loud and confident man tiptoe carefully around her past like it was a live bomb irritated her.

"They want more ex- slaves?" Erza shrugged. "Fine. I'll ask Milliana, she could probably contact Wally and Sho as well. And…" It was Erza's turn to hesitate. She plunged ruthlessly ahead. "And I'll see if I can find Jellal."

Lucy, Gray and Natsu looked at her incredulously. Behind her, Erza could feel Makrov, Gajeel and Juvia burn stares into her back. She raised her shoulders and stood firmly.

"Erza." Gray's voice was sharp. "I don't think the PTSD Aid Association would appreciate Jellal there, considering that it was _because_ of him that most of them have PTSD in the first place."

Erza narrowed her eyes, ready to defend herself, but before she could, Mirajane piped up from the bar counter.

"I think Erza's right. Since Jellal spent the most time in the Tower, he might know as to why former slaves are being targeted, and he's a powerful mage, so he fits the job description. Besides, it's possible that Jellal may need some counselling as well." Mirajane smiled at Erza, but it wasn't sweet and unassuming. It was small and sharp, the type of smile she used to wear before she would deliver a venomous punchline to a cruel joke. _We need to talk, _her smile said.

"I'll give you till the end of today to contact all those you see fit, Erza." Master Makarov was all business again. "Tomorrow, you leave for Gardenia."

Erza nodded. Her stomach felt empty and fragile, her back was a tangled ball of nerves. _I'm going to meet other slaves. I'm going to see Wally and Sho. I'm going to see __**Jellal. **_Erza realized that she had been staring blankly at the wall, about the same time as she realized that Mirajane was walking towards her with sharp, clicking steps. She grabbed Erza around elbow and propelled her towards the open door, and out into the bright Magnolia sunlight. Erza blinked, squinting her eyes carefully.

"Erza," Mirajane looked serious. "Listen, I know that your top priority is the mission, you're not stupid, I know that. But I need to tell you this." Mirajane ran a thin hand through her porcelain hair. "I saw you and Jellal during the Grand Magic Games. I saw the way he looked at you."

Erza remembered the Grand Magic Games. She remembered Jellal brushing her hand when both teams gathered to discuss strategy, she remembered his palm on the small of her back. Most of all, she remembered the way he said her name, _Erza, _beautiful and terrible at the same time. He whispered her name like it was religion, like it was his last salvation.

A man with a "fiance" shouldn't call a girl's name like that.

People had made Erza feel angry, scared and empty. People had made Erza feel happy, like the warm glow she felt in Fairy Tail, surrounded by her team. Compliments made her flustered, praise vaguely embarrassed. But when Jellal mouthed her name with a vague twist in his mouth and her skin burnt in dark, sticky heat? No one else made her feel quite like _that_.

"Erza." Mirajane looked serious. "Just, be careful, okay? I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'm not going to get hurt." Erza's voice sounded cold, even though her skin burned. "Don't worry, Mirajane, I'll be fine."

"Okay," Mirajane looked relieved. "That's all I wanted to say." Then her expression changed, a devilish smirk growing on her face. "Although, you know, if you do cave in and do the dirty, I want _details_, got it?"

_Oh, Mavis._

"Mirajane."

"Okay, okay!" Mirajane composed her features into a softer smile. "Thank you, Erza."

Erza nodded. "Can I leave now?"

Mirajane giggled delicately. "Of course!"

Erza pushed open the door to her guild and slipped into the cooler, blessed darkness. _Be careful? _If all the years hating and loving and pining after Jellal had taught her anything, it was that it was impossible to be careful. She reached towards the guild communications lacrima, feeling as if she had already broken her promise.

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><p><strong>AN: So there you have it, the first chapter! The idea for this story had been bouncing around my head for a while now, but I never had the courage to write it.**

**I just love Erza, I think she's a great, well developed character, and she really deserves her popularity! I wrote this story to give some closure to what I feel is a gaping hole in her personality: her time in the Tower of Heaven. After the ToH arc, Erza's past was alluded to, but quickly lost any gravity with both her and her guildmates. After suffering through an experience as traumatizing as slavery in her past, and being forced to relive it as a young adult, I feel that Erza must have undergone some mental strain, and would probably suffer from PTSD. This story is a chance for her to come to terms with her past, and maybe even accept it.**

**A really important thing I had to keep in mind while writing this was that Erza is a lot more than a former slave: she's a mage, a tactician, a leader and arguably a pillar of her guild. Juggling both parts of her identity, her strengths and her weaknesses, was incredibly challenging, and I hope I did an adequate job.**

**The main pairing in this fic will be Jerza. Jerza was my first OTP, and remains a pairing very close to my heart. But when I trace the course of their relationship in the manga, I realized that Jellal and Erza's relationship, while beautiful and heartbreaking, is incredibly messed up. THIS IS NOT IN ANY WAY BECAUSE OF A FLAW IN THEIR CHARACTERS. It is instead a natural outcome of their extremely traumatic and difficult past. Through the course of this story, I'd like to take their mutual attraction and develop it into the base for a future, stable life together. This is why, for all intents and purposes, their relationship will move VERY SLOWLY. Please, dear readers, be patient with me. I promise lots of good stuff later ;)**

**Okay, now that all that is off my chest, please don't forget of read and review! Feedback, criticism, flames, I'll take 'em all!**


	2. Chapter 2: i don't think about you

**Chapter 2:** I don't think about you any more

**Summary:** A journey and a confrontation.

**Disclaimer:** Fairy Tail belongs to Hiro Mashima

**A/N:** This chapter is dedicated to **MiereChan** and **Ash Lite**. Thanks for the reviews!

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><p>"<em>I too was taught the trade of man And learnt the lessons plain. But they, when I forgot and ran/ Remember and remain."_

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><p>Erza Scarlet is late.<p>

She should have been at Magnolia station ten minutes ago, she thought with a rising sense of panic, yet here she is, stuffing any visible article of clothing into a suitcase, grabbing a bundle from under her mattress, and frantically hopping into her shoes.

_To think there are people who believe I'm collected._

Erza grabbed her suitcase and sprinted out of Fairy Hills, running haphazardly across the cobblestones. Master Makrov had assured her that adequate food would be provided, so Erza didn't have her usual mountain of supplies, but the feeling of the heavy bag slapping her thigh as she ran was irritating none the less.

Milliana had told Erza that she would wait at Magnolia Station, and that Wally and Sho would join them at Gardenia. Erza hadn't told her cheerful friend about Jellal, and spent half the night agonizing about it. Hence the lateness.

Magnolia Station's great arch loomed above her head, and Erza slowed down to a jog. She breezed into the station, somewhat out of breath, and arrived at the platform just to see Natsu and Gray attempting to push each other onto the tracks, and Lucy wailing with Happy in her arms.

The sight of the small blue cat warmed Erza more than she was willing to admit. Wendy had taken Charle and Happy to a cat spa the day the murder was announced and Erza decided to take the job. While Wendy had opted to stay in the spa, Happy had adamantly refused to part with Natsu on the job, and had cut his little "vacation" short to join them.

"Erza!" With a shriek, Happy propelled himself out of Lucy's arms and into hers. "I missed you so much! Do you have fish? Where's the job? When will we meet your friends? Will we meet _Jellal_? Do you have fish?"

Erza smiled despite herself. "I don't have fish. I think the train lunch service does, though."

"Yes!" Happy twirled slightly in the air, then busied himself preening his fur back to its previous shine. "Do you like it? It's an avocado scrub from the spa…"

Erza let her mind drift, Happy's babble fading to a blur in her ears. _"Will we meet Jellal?"_ The curious question echoed in her mind. Would they meet Jellal? Erza had paced up and down her room yesterday evening, trying to figure out how to contact Jellal as the dusk light filtered through her windows. Predictably enough, thinking about contacting Jellal turned into thinking about Jellal, which turned into thinking about kissing Jellal. After a few hours, Erza had given up and flopped on her bed, flushed and irritated.

Somehow, though, she knew Jellal would come. In the shadowy half days after her return to the Tower, when she thought Jellal was dead and gone, she had felt him laughing in her mind, his head cocked and mouth crooked like when they were children. Later, when he was in prison and she was fighting Azuma on Tenrou Island with shaky legs and bloody coughs, she heard his voice caress her ears, telling her to _fight, win, not give up. _Erza wasn't stupid and her time as a slave has given her a tired cynicism that was hard to shake. She rolled her eyes at Lucy's rants about true love, and scoffed at Levy's books (though she read them secretly later). But somewhere in her heart of hearts, a deep, red place she barely knew she has, Erza thinks that if there were such a thing as soulmates, infinitely destined couples, then she and Jellal would be that.

Yet. Yet there was the shadow of the Tower cleaving through each of their short, stilted conversations, pulling them apart and frosting the air between them. There were the ghosts of a thousand people, barely- friends and acquaintances that Jellal had slaughtered after a moment of crippling human weakness. Erza was always hurtling through her life too fast to sit down and analyse for a moment, but whenever she did she realized that her feelings for Jellal Fernandes were a tangled mix of fear, regret, nostalgia, muted anger, lust and bitter love. _"The basis of any healthy relationship is reality, not hopes." _Grandpa Rob would always preach with a sage like smile. If that was the case, well. Her relationship with Jellal was pretty unhealthy, to say the least.

These kinds of thoughts tended to make her head hurt. Erza was a warrior, a soldier by nature. She dwelled in the practical and easily scouted, and what she could determine was this: she knew Jellal, and she knew that he would come.

"…Er-chan? Er-chan!"

Erza whipped around, hair flying and blocking her vision in blood red. When it cleared, Milliana was standing, rocking on the balls of her feet. "Er-chan! Hi!"

Erza accepted a hug from the bubbly mage easily. Milliana was one of her oldest friends, sticking with her through pain and bleak tears and moments of startling happiness. It was always good to see her.

"KITTY!" Milliana leapt after Happy, who shrieked again and ducked behind Natsu. Milliana pouted, then noticed Gray.

"You're really hot."

Gray blinked. "I'm an ice mage."

Milliana looked personally affronted. "Whatever. You're not my type anyways." She then bounded over to Lucy and began squealing over her hair, leaving Gray looking very confused. Erza shook her head and mouthed _don't bother. _

"Er-chan! It'll be so fun, you and me and Sho and Wally and your team and the kitty, oh look! The train's here!"

The large, sedate train pulled into the station. Suddenly the empty station was filled with the quiet chatter of passengers and their family. Milliana grabbed hold of Erza's arm and began to push her towards the waiting door. Natsu, Gray and Lucy followed, looking amused.

"Listen, Milliana." Erza felt suddenly nervous. "About the team-"

"Relax, it'll be fun! I promise I won't spill any embarrassing childhood stories or anything, like that one time you managed to set your hair on fire or something, I'll never tell… oops."

Erza could feel her cheeks heat up. Behind her, her team's eyes were growing wider and wider.

"You set your hair on fire?" Natsu sounded approving.

"Yep!" Milliana looked obscenely cheerful. "Then she jumped screaming into the sea."

"Milliana," Erza growled.

"Yes?" Milliana looked ridiculously innocent.

Erza grabbed her friend's ear and _twisted_. Then she dragged her to their assigned seats, shooting a glare behind her shoulder to keep the rest of Team Natsu moving.

She was Erza "Titania" Scarlet. She did not tolerate nonsense. She would not be mocked.

And she definitely did not scream.

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><p>The train ride to Gardenia was breathtakingly beautiful, with great yawning valleys, sheer pristine mountain peaks and field upon field of flowers: richly red roses, tiny button snowdrops, waxy tulips and everywhere lilacs, as far as the eye could see.<p>

Sitting in the train, scenery was the last thing on Erza's mind.

Not telling her childhood friends about Jellal was a stupid idea. She knew this, but in her defence, she didn't know if he was going to come either. She _still_ didn't. Beside her, Milliana chattered happily while Natsu moaned and curled in on himself. Erza allowed herself to feel a moment of fleeting pity. Then her mind returned to the central problem: how would she tell Milliana about Jellal?

Her friends hated Jellal with a red hot, messy intensity, she knew. It would probably be even worse in Wally and Sho's case, considering that they weren't hiding behind pillars as Ultear casually scattered the truth in the Grand Magic Games. It was important that they all got along for the mission, and for the sake of the hundreds of innocent civilians whose lives were in danger. But would that even be possible?

A long time ago, when Erza was sixteen and still bitter and harsh and lonely, she met a group of teenagers barely her age in Lily, with pained eyes and jaded faces. She sat with them, feeling like she was amongst peers, and watched silently as a boy slit his thigh slowly with a penknife, tears running silently down his face.

"Why does he do that?" Erza had asked.

Another boy shook his head despairingly. "He wounded his leg a few years ago. He was shot by the occupying soldiers." He lowered his voice slightly. "They murdered his family."

Erza was still confused. "But why not let it heal?"

A girl at the edge of the group raised her face. Etched across her features was an expression of strangled despair: the face of someone putting one foot in front of the other because they don't know what else to do. Erza knew that expression. It was the one she wore whenever she saw her face in the mirror.

"Sometimes," she whispered, "it's easier to remember than to forget."

Erza imagines Wally and Sho and Milliana and Jellal, all reaching into the depths of their minds and pulling up their time in the Tower, reliving their experiences and letting them fester and fester and grow.

The train hissed to a stop. "Milliana," Erza said desperately. "Milliana, listen to me. I didn't tell you but there's someone else on the team."

"Okay. Who?" Milliana tucked a wayward auburn strand of hair back into her messy bun.

Erza opened her mouth, then closed it again. "It's-"

But she never got to finish her sentence. The doors to the train creaked open, and waiting for them on the platform were Wally and Sho and-

_Oh, Mavis._

Jellal.

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><p>For one idiotic, hopeful moment, Erza thought that Wally and Sho had already confronted Jellal, that they were all ready to work together. Then Sho's face contorted into something ugly and horrible.<p>

"Erza." He hadn't called her _Erza-nee. _Sho was grown up, now. Or maybe he was just that angry. "What is _he_ doing here?" Next to him, Wally was trembling silently.

"You know, that's a good question. What am I doing here, Erza?" Jellal sounded calm and even, but Erza could hear the suppressed rage and confusion beneath the surface.

Erza stepped down from the train. "Can we please do this later?"

"No, we'll do this _now_." Wally sounded older, more matured, and angry beyond belief. Around them, the rest of the passengers were shooting furtive looks at each other and moving away. Even though Jellal had been officially pardoned by the Magic Council, he was still a source of trepidation, and Erza supposed that even these civilians could tell this gathering had the potential to become nasty.

Milliana hissed with surprise at Erza's shoulder. "Er-chan? What-"

Natsu staggered onto the platform, holding onto Lucy and Happy for dear life. Behind him, Gray followed, rolling his eyes.

"Blocky Head! Weird Card Guy!" Natsu attempted to spring forward, then, in a sudden fit of dizziness tripped over his own feet and crashed to the ground.

"Natsu!" Lucy bent quickly with just a bit more worry than was strictly necessary. Erza raised a knowing eyebrow.

The arrival of the rest of the team deflated the tension on the station almost instantly. Sho relaxed his stance slightly and ran a hand through his hair, grimacing. Wally offered Natsu a small but genuine smile. Only Milliana remained tense.

"We have to talk."

Erza reflected sadly that almost everyone appeared to be telling her that.

Jellal raised a hand to the exit, and Erza took a moment to appreciate the sight of him in casual clothes: dark jeans, a t-shirt advertising some obscure rock band, and a loosely fitting leather jacket. His hair had grown slightly since they had last met, and brushed the nape of his neck.

Erza was pleased that she took in these observations with a detached, professional disinterest. _At least one of us won't let emotions cloud judgment._

"Shall we?" Jellal looked faintly amused, as if he could read her thoughts. Then again, Erza reflected, years studying varied magic meant that he probably could.

Erza straightened her shoulders and brushed past him, out into the gloomy Gardenia day. Sho, Wally and Milliana followed, shooting sharp looks at Jellal while talking quietly. Natsu, Lucy and Gray straggled at the rear.

_Behold, the heroes of the Tower. _ Erza didn't know whether to laugh or cry. _It'll be a miracle if we get through the first day._

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><p><strong>AN:** **The second chapter is up! Ash Lite, don't worry, you'll get your Jellal POV soon!**

**About Jellal's characterization, I have always imagined him to like random, obscure rock bands and to swear in Spanish when he gets really mad ;)**

**I hoped you enjoyed the update. Please read and review!**


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